ICYMI: Senator Murray Continues Strong Oversight on EHR Rollout at Spokane VA Medical Center, Pushes for Concrete Improvements—MORE HERE
ICYMI: Senator Murray Presses VA Secretary on Electronic Health Records Rollout at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane—MORE HERE
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) and Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-KS) in introducing legislation to increase transparency surrounding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program.
This summer, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) released three reports that raised concerns surrounding the deployment of the EHRM program. Two of the reports raised issues with cost estimates and reporting. The VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act would hold the VA accountable and increase transparency by requiring the VA Secretary to submit periodic reports to Congress regarding the costs, performance metrics and outcomes for EHRM.
“Whether it was veterans getting mailed the wrong medication or VA staff having to jump through hoops to provide basic services for their patients—the Electronic Health Record rollout at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC was a complete disaster,” Senator Murray said. “I warned VA during the previous administration about potential issues with the new EHR system before the rollout, and my message to the current administration has been clear: fix this immediately and make sure it never happens again. As we continue to see issues at the Spokane pilot site, we need to increase the transparency of this program so that veterans in Walla Walla and across our state and country don’t have to deal with these same problems—and so that Congress can make sure VA is doing everything in its power to fix this for the veterans already dealing with the fallout of this broken system.”
Senator Murray has been conducting oversight on the EHR rollout at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC for years, questioning then VA Secretary Wilkie about the EHR rollout in September of 2018 and writing a letter in January 2020 to VA leadership expressing her concern on reports of staffing and facility issues at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC, and how those issues could affect the EHR rollout. Following Senator Murray’s concerns, VA initially delayed rollout of the EHR program at Mann-Grandstaff until March 2020.
In July, Senator Murray pressed Secretary McDonough on patient safety in light of reports of veterans receiving incorrect medications, the need for more staff support from VA, and how VA will avoid the issues that have arisen at Mann-Grandstaff VAMC moving forward and at other VA medical centers. Senator Murray has since raised the need to resolve issues with care at Mann-Grandstaff with Secretary McDonough and other VA officials multiple times in private meetings and public hearings. When Secretary McDonough last appeared before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Murray secured a public commitment from him that VA would share its indicators of readiness before expanding the EHR pilot program to any other facilities in Washington state.
The long planned restructuring of VA’s EHR system is meant to ease sharing of medical records between the Department of Defense and VA, as well as VA and community providers. It is projected to be completed by 2028.
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